Sent to The Star, Johannesburg, Thu 13/02/2014
14:54
Sir
I
was part of the DA’s 12 February March for Jobs.
The march was planned for 4 February but Johannesburg Metro Police
refused permission. The DA had to go to court to have the decision
overturned.
Ill-informed ANC members gathered at Luthuli House on 4 February
and, when they found there was no march, tried to disrupt preparations for a DA
fund-raising dinner that evening at City Hall. There were no arrests.
On Wednesday 12th, the DA held an approved, legal,
orderly, and unarmed march. Even the burly security personnel carried no
visible weapons. Some marchers wore hollow plastic builders’
helmets. These are designed to give construction workers a measure of
head protection against small falling debris.
The ANC neither applied for nor received permission to
march. Yet it bussed in supporters form as far afield as Kwa-Zulu
Natal. As seen in photographs, many were armed with bricks, batons, and
other dangerous weapons including petrol bombs. The SAPS and Metro Police
appear to have made no effort to disarm them or to stop the busses.
Beyers Naude Square had been approved by the Metro as the
destination for the DA’s march. This was agreed to by the ANC in court
that morning. Nevertheless, ANC supporters occupied the square: SAPS and
Metro Police, instead of telling them to leave and then arresting those that
did not, prevented the DA march from reaching its destination.
We on the DA march turned back a block short at Rissik Street, and
returned peacefully to our destination to be addressed by Helen Zille.
Meanwhile, ANC supporters were trying to attack DA marchers and
petrol bombing the police who stopped them. ANC leaders have attempted to
excuse this. Four arrests have been reported. There is no talk of
the ANC or its many supporters being prosecuted for an illegal march and
thuggery on a grand scale.
It
is clear that the ANC has become a party of intolerance and violence, while the
DA is peaceful, law-abiding, and democratic.
It
also seems from police behaviour that there is one law for the ANC and another
for other organisations.
